The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1887-03-01
THE CITY CREMATORY.
THE MISTAKE OF ITS LOCATION
Should DO Corrected by ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Working Of tho Furnace In Experiments
nIade Yesterday--An Interesting De-.
scrlption by u Medical ofnn. ,

To the Editor Of he lnttlli0encer. lIlsN M
slR:-This being the day appointed for
testing the crematory on the hill, I do.
cided to pay 1t visit. So drove up the
new road that leads to It, and arrived In
time to SEQ the result Of the test:
The working OF the furnace Ia aduira.
BILE, being, 80 far as could see, without a
fault. It Is entirely oderlesa, and re.
duces the substances put into It to their
original elements.
The greater part Of the substances burn.
ed being water, this Is not only evapora.
ted, but actually reduced to tic elementary
gases, oxygen and hydrogen. The carbon
contained In the articles burned unites
with tho oxygen and goes off in the form
Of carbonic acid gas. The small Dor cent
ofsolid substances contained In it remaina
on the floor Of the furnace in tho form Of
very fine ash, which Is perfectly pure.
The carcass Of a horse, which wac crena.
ted today, left a xery ANAL residue OF a
very line calcareous powder, both odorlesa
and tasteless. Tho vapors coming from
tho substances burned are passed through
several intensely hot chambers 30 as to be
rendered entirely inodorous before emery.
ing from the stack. II lI ~ = .
In short, tho crematory Is a psrlect sue.
eess, 90 lar as its working and It's capacity
Is concerned. Mr.. Smith, the builder. M.
sures us, and what we saw to-day corrob.
crates bis statement, that it will consume
the odal Of city twice tho size of ours.
Now, however, comes the Objectionable
part. The crematory Is in a most inacces.
sib!e location, where it Is almost impousi.
bic to haul anything to It q considerable
part OF the year. In driving up to 1t in
my buggy l was convinced that the diff.
Guilty Of access would prove IN insuper.
able objection to 1t, and make It ultimate.
ly grand failure. The reason, ! suppose.
why the gentlemen who had the manage.
ment Of the affair placed it there was that
the people, not understanding It's work
ing, and supposing 1t would spread very
unpleasant odor Tor a considerable dis.
tanco around, objected to having 1t located
anywhere in tho city, consequently the
top Of the hill was chosen as being m ost
out Of the way, and on ground belonging
to the city. To-day's experiment has
proven that this is an unfounded fear, and
that 1t could bs placed in tho most popu.
lous part Of the city without causing the
least annoyance to tho most sensitive
olfsctories. rl.l-I n
OF course, the old method OF gathering
nnd conveying the night soil must be
abandoned, and the inodorouB apparatus
substituted, which is the only arrange
ment that should be permitted in any
city. We have been told by competent
authority, that the taking down, remov-
ing and rebuilding the cromatory will
only cost about one-eighth OF the expense
Of making good road up the hill to
where It now stands. Lst all those who
doubt the statement that tho c1ematory
emits no disagreeable odor, visit it to-mor-
row, when further experiments will be
made. @. F. ULRlcu,
-, Member Of Committee on Health.
Wheeling, Feb. %.